Authors: Research Scholar Sanjoy Sarkar
Abstract: Folk theatre is an inseparable component of folk culture, reflects the collective identity, religious beliefs, ethical values, and social experiences of a community. In North Bengal, Lokanatya or folk theatre not only exists as a powerful medium of entertainment, but also a significant cultural tool for transmitting religious ideas, moral principles, and social responsibilities to the masses. The concept of Dharma in the Indian cultural context reaches far beyond the boundaries of institutional religion and incorporates ethical behaviour, social harmony, moral responsibility, familial responsibilities and the preservation of collective values. This paper focuses on the reflection of Dharma through selected folk theatre traditions of North Bengal, namely, Kushan Pala of Cooch Behar and Gambhira of Malda districts of West Bengal. Kushan Pala represents Rama, Sita, Lav, Kush and others and through these narratives the performers embody the idea of Dharma, on the other hand Gambhira presents Lord Shiva and Dharma Thakur and incorporates them in social context. The study also mentions some other performances to get a glimpse of the broader religious dimensions of folk performative traditions of the region. It adopts a qualitative and analytical methodology. Theoretical lenses of Richard Schechner’s Performance Theory and Victor Turner’s concept of Communitas have been used to analyse performances.
